West Ham Not To Blame For Premiership Wage Inflation...Says West Ham

West Ham owner Eggert Magnusson moved swiftly to deny the figures involved in the proposed deal and with Darren Bent turning the move down this evening we can only assume that the true figures will never really be announced but having given similar deals to Lucas Neill last January when he moved to West Ham from Blackburn Rovers and Scott Parker only a week or so ago when he moved from Newcastle United, it is hard to absolve the cash rich Hammers from pushing the boundaries higher and higher salary-wise as they try to attract top players to the club. Just avoiding relegation last season and the prospect of facing further Premier League sanctions for the Carlos Tevez affair have left West Ham as not the most desirable destination for Europe's top players on a purely footballing basis and in the tradition of unglamorous destinations such as Middlesbrough and Newcastle before them, the club are finding that the only way to get their chosen targets is to bump up the weekly wage and completely gazump any potential rivals.

The latest Premiership TV deal has given all top flight clubs vast amounts of money and it's no surprise to see both transfer valuations and wages offered on the rise. Chelsea's spendthrift ways over the past few years on both types of expenditure may be calmed through a policy of signing only Bosman free transfers this summer but they still command a massive wage bill including at leats two players (Shevchenko and Ballack) on a reputed £120,000 a week each and captain John Terry and England colleague Frank Lampard are reputed to want similar amounts to sign new contracts.

The ordinary fan in the stands can only look on with mounting disgust as the people they shell out their hard earned cash to watch move even further and further away from them in terms of salary and lifestyle but it's really not a situation we can blame on just one club or even on the players and their so-called greedy agents, it's simply market forces at work and without a major initiative from UEFA or FIFA on salary capping we are unlikely to see an end to it any time soon. Provided the TV money keeps it's own upward spiral over the next few Premiership TV deals, the SKY really is the limit for the Premiership's chosen few.

Klose completes move to Bayern Munich

German international striker Miroslav Klose has completed his transfer from Werder Bremen to Bayern Munich, both Bundesliga clubs said on Tuesday.

Klose, 29, will have a medical on Thursday before signing a four-year contract. He is due to start training with Bayern on Friday.

He will form a striking partnership with Italian international Luca Toni, and Bayern have also signed French midfielder Franck Ribery to bolster a team that finished fourth in the Bundesliga last season and failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Klose scored five goals at last year's World Cup and has scored 33 goals for Germany in 69 appearances.

source: World Soccer